Not to be outdone by Epic Games, <a href="http://macnn.com/rd/306528==http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/01/16/crytek.hiring.for.ipad.and.iphone.games/" rel='nofollow'>game developer</a> Crytek has <a href="http://macnn.com/rd/306529==http://www.cryengine.com/news/crytek-announces-its-cryengine-as-a-service-program" rel='nofollow'>announced</a> a new pricing plan for its CryEngine called an "Engine -as-a-Service" (EaaS) program for developers. The program consists of a $10 license fee per month that is royalty-free. This undercuts Epic Game's recent <a href="http://macnn.com/rd/306530==http://www.electronista.com/articles/14/03/19/monthly.fee.royalty.payments.a.vast.change.from.pr evious.unreal.engine.licensing.scheme/" rel='nofollow'>announcement</a> that it would price its Unreal Engine 4 at $19 per month, with a five percent royalty on gross revenues.<br />
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New features are being rolled out for the engine under the new structure, including physics-based shading, geometry cache and image-based lighting. Carl Jones, director of business development for Crytek, commented that the company is "really excited to make CryEngine available to hundreds of thousands of developers working with Crytek to make awesome games." It was the idea of the company to move the engine in the direction of a service to expand Crytek's <a href="http://macnn.com/rd/306527==http://www.crytek.com/" rel='nofollow'>offerings</a>.<br />
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The engine has evolved since the first iteration, powering Crysis to more recent titles like <em>FarCry 3</em> on Windows and <em>Ryse: Son of Rome</em> for the Xbox One. The CryEngine has been known for its power-hungry capabilities in the past, but changes in optimization and the new aggressive pricing are sure to make it sound more appealing to developers. While Crytek previously made a free CryEngine SDK available for educational use, previous users of the SDK will be required to pay the monthly fee if they wish to access the new engine features.<br />